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midnightshard06 · 5 hours

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STH Rarepair Week Day 3: Hurt / Comfort

You can check it out on ao3 here if you prefer.

Summary: Sonic stumbles across a heavily damaged Metal Sonic and does the only thing he can think to do, take him back to Tails to see if his brother can fix him. It ends up being a rough day for everyone involved, especially Sonic.

Pairing: Sonic/Metal Sonic

Warnings: Mild violence, nothing graphic

Word Count: ~3000 words

AN: Still feeling these two's dynamic out so apologies if anything seems weird lol.

"You can fix him… right?" Sonic glanced nervously at Tails.

His brother twitched his tails nervously. "I'll do my best… Metal's in really rough shape."

Sonic couldn't help but pace as Tails got to work on Metal Sonic. What had even happened? Sonic had just found his robotic doppelganger abandoned and in more pieces than he cared to count. It had hit him hard, hard enough to almost panic at the sight of it. The only thing that held him together was his drive to collect the pieces so the robot could be fixed.

That had been a whole process in itself. Between having to find every little piece and periodically needing to stop and shake loose unwanted images of an actual mangled corpse from his mind. It was a constant battle to remind himself that for how alive Metal acted he was still a robot. A robot who could actually come back from something like this. Hopefully.

At some point Tails shooed him outside, but honestly he barely noticed. His mind just continued to go over questions he didn’t have answers too. Normally he’d go on a run to clear his head but it felt like if he left something awful would happen. No. He needed to stay here until Tails was done. He needed to see that Metal was going to be ok with his own eyes.

He glanced back at the closed door to Tails’s workshop in concern. Why hadn’t Eggman come to try and collect Metal? Why leave him out there… in that condition? Sonic shuddered and quickly banished the memory of how Metal had looked from his mind. Remembering that right now wasn’t going to help him. Maybe after he knew Metal was going to be ok he’d go find Eggman, see if he couldn’t figure out what had happened. Yeah. That felt like a decent course of action.

Hours passed, or at least it felt like it. Everything felt agonizingly slow as Sonic paced. He idly noted he’d worn a shallow groove into the ground, something he’d need to fix later. At some point during the agonizing wait, Amy showed up. Whatever she was saying didn’t register in his mind but she gently guided him down to the ground to sit. Not like he had the energy to resist right now anyway.

Having someone else there was probably good. At least he shouldn’t make the groove any worse than it already was now. As they sat there she talked. About what, he didn’t know. Her words washed over him as he was unable to make them out properly. It didn’t matter though, he was pretty sure they both knew that. Whatever she was talking about didn’t matter. What did matter was that she was there at all, helping ground him. He was glad he had such good friends.

By the time Tails came out to get him the sun was setting. Amy thankfully stayed by his side as the trio went inside. He felt a spark of hope pierce the haze that had settled over his mind as he saw Metal completely reassembled on one of Tails’ work tables. Wires coming from the back of his head were still connected to the Miles Electric, but besides that he looked good as new. “Is he..?” Sonic looked over at his brother.

Tails nervously wrung his hands. “I was able to put him back together fine. There were a lot of pieces but as far as I could tell you managed to get them all. Though due to the heavy damage he sustained I’m… not sure if any of his core programs were damaged. I tried to run a diagnostic but I couldn’t for some reason. It just… wasn’t working.”

“And that’s not a great sign I assume?” Amy asked, frowning.

“Unfortunately.” Tails nodded, looking away from Sonic. “It might not mean much but… I’m just worried.”

Sonic took a deep breath and did his best to push aside his own worry for now. “Boot him up.”

“Are you sure?” Tails looked up at him, worried.

“We won’t know what’s going on until he’s up and running right?” Sonic did his best to give his brother a reassuring smile, though he wasn’t sure if it was effective for either of them. “No use in dragging it out.”

“As long as you’re ok with it.” Amy put a hand on his shoulder. Sonic took a far shakier breath and nodded.

Tails nodded back and went over to where he’d left the Miles Electric on a table. “Turning him back online in three, two, one…”

Sonic held his breath as Metal’s red optics flared to life. The robot looked around sort of peacefully for a bit after sitting up. Although he looked at all three of them his gaze lingered the longest on Sonic. The eye contact was a little unnerving but he didn’t have much time to think about it before Metal was launching himself at Sonic. For an incredibly brief moment he thought that might have been a positive thing but that was quickly shattered as Metal kept going and caused the two to crash through a wall.

Sonic managed to separate from Metal once they were outside. He winced at the hole they made as he shook off debris that tried to stick to him. That would have to be fixed later. Right now he had a rogue robot to take down, even if it hurt to do so right after Tails had fixed him. “C’mon Metal. We don’t have to do this right now!” Sonic tried, but he was met with nothing but Metal charging at him again.

He dropped into a spin dash to dodge out of the way, and as much as he didn’t want to he turned to crash into Metal’s back. He pulled out of the spin dash and kicked off the robot’s back, sending him crashing into the ground. The sound of metal scraping against the hard ground had Sonic pinning his ears to his head. Could he really do this right now? As Metal got up engine whirring, it was clear he wasn’t going to have a choice.

Before Metal could charge at him again Tails and Amy were there. “I think he might have gotten reset.” Tails sounded a mix between nervous and upset. “He might have just reverted to his base programming.”

That one stung. If Metal really had gone back to just his base programming that meant that all the time Sonic had spent slowly broadening his counterpart’s horizons was wasted, gone just like that. That also meant he wouldn’t remember the quiet times when the two had really gotten to know each other; the times the two talked about their respective siblings and whatever they’d gotten up to. The races which were only for the pure enjoyment of testing each other. Pushing each other. Metal and everything he had slowly been becoming, gone.

Sonic clenched his fists and he could feel tears start to gather in his eyes. He didn’t let them fall though, he couldn’t. Regardless of his own feelings, Metal needed to be stopped before he hurt one of them. If either of his friends tried to stop him as he rushed forward he didn’t hear them. It was hard to hear much over his own racing thoughts.

He threw himself into the fight with Metal not caring if he got hurt. As long as this could be over quicker it didn’t matter. He’d walk it off anyway. Plus the pain was a wonderful distraction from the hollow feeling that had settled in his chest. With each clash Sonic dared to feel the tiniest bit of hope that Metal would come to his senses, only to have it dashed each time. Metal was seemingly back to the same robot he’d met on Little Planet all that time ago. At some point he stopped hoping to see something different.

Eventually while catching his breath he found himself restrained from behind. He struggled of course but stopped as soon as he recognized it was Amy who was holding him back. His legs felt like they couldn’t support his weight any more once he saw Tails jump onto Metal and shut him down. With no more immediate distraction he let himself fall limp, confident that Amy could handle his weight. His eyes trailed to the ground and he suddenly felt oh so tired.

Amy and Tails were possibly talking about something but he couldn’t find it in himself to care to listen. Honestly he did his best to just let his mind go blank. That was much more preferable to confronting the reality of the situation, and just how much it hurt. At some point Amy was trying to lead him back to Tails’ workshop, he did at least cooperate. It would be pretty rude of him to force her to drag him around, no matter how terrible he felt.

Sonic was led into the living area Tails had attached to his lab. Amy got him to sit down on a couch, before walking off for a moment and returning with a blanket to wrap around his shoulders. He pulled the blanket tightly around himself and stared at the floor. It was hard not to think about what was happening but focusing on the pain from his still untreated injuries helped. A cushion next to him dipped. It was probably Amy sitting next to him.

“How are you holding up?” Amy asked, voice tentative. Sonic just folded his ears against his head. “Right, bad question. Sorry.” She took a breath. "We'll figure this out. For now will you let me take a look at your injuries?" Sonic nodded, not trusting his voice right now. Even though he didn't want to, he released his tight grip on the blanket.

He finally lifted his gaze from the floor to watch Amy start to treat his injuries. They were worse than he typically got fighting Metal. That didn't make him feel any better. The whole time he couldn't bring himself to look at Amy, but he was silently grateful. He really did have good friends.

"Can I see him?" Sonic barely heard himself.

"... are you sure that's what you want?" Amy made what she thought very clear in her tone. It was a bad idea.

While he didn't really think it would help, he felt like it would be worse to sit here. "Yeah." Sonic nodded.

Amy hesitated before gently guiding him towards Tails’ workshop. Finally he looked up all the way, if only just to be able to see where he was going. His brother looked up from the Miles Electric as the two of them entered the workshop. He frowned, but didn’t say anything. It was clear the fox knew why they were there.

Sonic silently watched Tails work for… well he wasn’t sure how long. Honestly he didn’t even know what his brother was doing, but it felt like all he could do was watch. Amy made sure to periodically come in and make sure the two of them were taking care of themselves, though she paid extra attention to Sonic. Probably because he hadn’t made any moves to even attempt taking care of himself since finding a place to sit.

At some point Amy pulled Tails away from his work to send him to bed. It was probably well into the night at that point. When she tried to do the same for Sonic he waved her off. While she tried to be persistent she crumbled when Sonic finally turned to look at her. Based on her reaction he really didn’t want to know how he looked right now. She did at least bring out some pillows and extra blankets for him, so he had the option to make himself a bit more comfortable. Not that he remembered doing it but he did try to arrange them so things were a bit better.

For a while he just stared at the table Metal was once again laid out on. There were a few new dents and scratches but at least he was intact. Well physically anyway. Sonic pulled the blanket around his shoulders tighter, ignoring how it aggravated some of his injuries. “Well…” Sonic said quietly into the now dark workshop. Amy had shut off the lights when she’d left, probably trying to encourage Sonic to sleep. “I guess we’ll have to start over again huh? Cause I know I can’t resist trying. You mean too much.” He sighed and watched Metal’s unmoving body for a while. There wasn’t much point in saying anything else when no one would hear it.

His eyelids started to grow heavy, and he mentally prepared himself for a night of little to no sleep. He’d barely let his eyes slip closed when he heard a noise. It was hard, but he managed to crack his eyes back open only to see Metal now sitting up. The robot was experimentally opening and closing his hands. Sonic tensed, ready for another potential fight. Metal turned to him and the gaze felt much less unsettling than it did earlier. ‘Sonic?’ Metal signed, tilting his head.

Sonic sucked in a sharp breath. Well he was certainly awake now. “Mets? Are you… you?” He was on his feet, blanket falling from his shoulders.

‘I am back to typical running capacity after critical systems failure. The automatic reboot and restoration of my system was a success.’ Metal stood up and moved towards Sonic.

“So… that means you’re ok then.” Sonic felt hope bloom in his chest as he rushed to his feet.

‘I am fine now yes.’ Metal gave him a once over. ‘The same cannot be said for you. Your face is leaking.

Oh. He was crying huh? At least now it was for a good reason. With the ease of practice though he managed to cut off his tears. “Nah. I’m good now Mets. I’m… good now.”’

Metal watched him for a moment. ‘You were the one to find me.’ It didn’t look like a question, but Sonic nodded anyway. He wanted to ask what happened but he also didn’t want to force Metal to think about it so soon. ‘I apologize.’ He looked down briefly, fists clenching. ‘I should have been stronger I-’

Sonic closed the gap between them and wrapped Metal in a hug, effectively cutting him off. Of course Metal wasn’t the nicest to hug, and the rigidness of his body was digging into Sonic uncomfortably in several places, but right now he needed it. Apparently both of them did. After a moment Metal carefully returned the hug. It was familiar enough, even if the two didn’t do it often. “Doesn’t matter.” Sonic was quiet, but he knew Metal would have no problem hearing him. “You’re ok now, that’s what matters.”

Metal tapped his back and pulled away. ‘I suppose.’ His robotic counterpart seemed to be taking in Sonic’s injuries now. ‘What happened?’ He tilted his head before looking Sonic in the eyes.

“We… booted you up before you were done doing your own stuff.” Sonic attempted to shrug casually. It felt stiff. “We fought a bit cause you weren’t really there. Not a big deal.”

Sonic got the impression that Metal would be frowning if he could. ‘We fight all the time. You do not typically receive injuries like this.’

“I… might have been a bit reckless because I was upset.” Sonic chuckled nervously. “I’m fine though, honest.”

Metal didn’t seem like he was convinced. ‘Fine.’ He conceded. Sonic grinned before yawning. The brief shot of adrenaline from Metal waking up was starting to wear off already. ‘You need rest.’ Metal glanced down at the mess of blankets and pillows Sonic had set up for himself. ‘This is not a proper place to do it.’

“Eh, I’ve slept in worse.” Sonic shrugged.

Metal shot him his best attempt at an unamused look before noticing the hole in the wall. Without any warning Metal scooped Sonic up and walked towards the hole and outside. Sonic was honestly so surprised he just let it happen. He barely even noticed Metal had snagged a blanket as well. They didn’t go far, just far enough to have grass under them. Once they stopped Metal carefully put Sonic down and spread the blanket on the ground. ‘You often say being outside calms you down. I thought this would be better than remaining inside.’

Sonic grinned before sprawling out on the blanket. It took Metal a moment, and Sonic patting the blanket in invitation, but he did join Sonic on the blanket. Well Metal was right about this one, he felt a lot calmer being outside having a wonderful view of the stars. Most calming though was Metal’s silent presence next to him. It almost felt silly how he felt earlier, but part of him couldn’t help but wonder if Metal would feel similarly if Sonic somehow forgot him.

Much to Sonic’s surprise, Metal reached for his hand. It wasn’t often Metal initiated anything physical. Since the robot got less out of physical affection than Sonic did, it was often up to him to initiate. After the day he’d had though it was very welcome.”I really am glad you’re ok Metal.” Sonic kept his gaze trained at the sky. Metal squeezed his hand since he couldn’t really communicate any other way right now. It was plenty for Sonic though.

It felt good to finally let the tension leave his body, but at the same time now that he didn’t have a distraction anymore he really could feel his injuries. Though thankfully he wouldn’t have to focus on that for long as Metal unthreaded their hands and started to gently work through Sonic’s quills. If it wasn’t clear before it certainly was now that Metal knew he’d been upset. The robot only did this to help calm Sonic down, even if Sonic assured him he didn’t mind Metal doing it whenever. He’d always get a retort along the lines of ‘if I do it too often you’ll become desensitized to it and it will become less effective’. He didn’t believe that in the slightest but he wasn’t about to fight Metal on it for now.

Right now he enjoyed the even strokes of clawed hands through messy quills. There under the stars, with his other half returned to him he finally allowed himself to sleep.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic fandom #ao3 link #miles tails prower #metal sonic #amy rose #sthrarepair24 #metonic #fanfiction

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midnightshard06 · 1 day

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STH Rarepair Week Day 2: Flowers / Love Letter

You can check it out on ao3 here if you prefer.

Summary: Sonic decides to stick around after the events of Sonic and the Black Knight. Partly to help the people effected by everything and partly to get closer to a certain knight. He's confident he can at the very least get Lancelot to loosen up around him, and perhaps his attempts at flirting won't be as lost on the other hedgehog as he thought.

Pairing: Sonic/Lancelot (SatBK)

Warnings: None to be had here

Word Count: ~2400 words

AN: Anxiety trying to get the best of me here cause this one feels... well potentially a controversial pick for this. I do very much consider this ship separate from sonadow (though still like, related of course), even if Lancelot is technically just that world's version of Shadow. Idk their dynamic just seems much different to me, and the ship on ao3 has less than 100 fics so *shrug*. Anyway this exists, and these two have taken up residence in my head rent free now.

“King Sonic.” Lancelot bowed his head respectfully as he approached.

Sonic grinned. Well if it wasn’t his favorite knight approaching. Not that he’d admit that to the others. “I told you that you don’t have to be so formal with me Lance. At least not when we’re alone.”

"I- of course." Lancelot cleared his throat. "I've come to inform you that your presence has been requested."

Sonic sighed. "Ah of course. Never a moment of peace huh?"

"There is much to do after all that's happened." Lancelot nodded.

"Yeah. Just wish I could kick back a bit more. Especially if I get to spend time with certain people." Sonic winked at Lancelot before quickly tucking a red flower behind the other hedgehog's ear.

"Sire!?" Lancelot was clearly flustered, something that Sonic found endless amusement in. It was pretty easy to fluster the knight afterall, and he took plenty of advantage of that.

"It matches your eyes." Sonic explained before walking over to retrieve Caliburn. The sentient sword had thankfully stayed quiet throughout the exchange. "Now come along. You said someone needed me?"

Lancelot composed himself and, much to Sonic's continued amusement, left the flower in its place. "Ah yes. Allow me to escort you back to the castle." He turned and began to walk.

Before Lancelot could get too far Sonic rushed to meet him, grabbing his arm in the process. "Well if you're going to escort me do it properly." He grinned.

"If that's what you command." Lancelot nodded stiffly. Sonic would get him to come around. It would just take some time.

Sonic internally sighed as he did his best to listen to the concerns of the people that had come to his court. It’s not that he didn’t want to help the people, it’s just it could be pretty boring at times. At least he had faith that his knights would help fill him in later if needed. Something which seemed to annoy them at first, but they’d quickly grown used to.

Still, he did his best to listen or at least make it appear so. Not to brag, but he’d mastered the art of nodding when appropriate even if he had no idea what was going on. Finally though the day came to a close. He stretched as he got up from the throne, eyes quickly finding Lancelot in the room. The other hedgehog was already making his way towards Sonic, and he couldn’t help the smile that found its way onto his muzzle.

“Come to give me a summary of everything?” Sonic asked once Lancelot stopped in front of him.

“So long as that’s what you require.” Lancelot nodded.

“That would be wonderful, but let’s talk somewhere else. Already been cooped up in here way too long. Care to join me for a walk?” Sonic held out a hand.

Lancelot hesitated and, much to Sonic’s internal disappointment, didn’t take his hand. Instead the knight of the round simply nodded. “If that’s what you prefer sire.”

Sonic kept his disappointment off his face as he did pay attention to Lancelot’s summary of what he felt were the most pressing issues. At least the walk was nice and now Sonic had a better idea of what needed to be addressed next. He selfishly made sure getting Lancelot to open up to him more was high on that list. Not that anyone but him needed to know that.

Sonic stared at the letter that sat innocently on his desk. It had just been there when he'd woken up that morning, so he had no idea where it had come from. Or perhaps more importantly who it was from.

"Well? Are you going to open it?" Caliburn spoke up from his position in the corner of the room. "It will not open itself."

Sonic didn't bother to hide his annoyed look, Caliburn was used to him by now anyway. "I was going to open it." He crossed his arms.

"Then why do you continue to stare at it? Much more of this and your absence will be felt." Caliburn retorted, sending Sonic an annoyed look of his own.

With a sigh Sonic picked up the letter, briefly admiring the nice wax seal that was used, and opened it. Inside was a letter, in small, neat handwriting. He skimmed it and felt himself freeze. He forced himself to slow down and read it properly. A love letter? He flipped the parchment over, disappointed to not find a single hint as to who had sent it. All he had to go off was the writing and the fact that whoever this was could get the letter directly to his room. After one last read he carefully placed the letter into his quills. Ok, he could think about this later. Even if the mystery of who'd sent such an elegantly written letter would bug him all day. It only took a bit more light prodding from Caliburn to get him moving after that.

There had been no more letters since the first, but Sonic had yet to figure out who sent it. Which was frustrating but he had plenty of distractions. Although he'd been skeptical of his new role at first he found himself settling into it. Well some aspects anyway. He still fought, typically verbally but not always, with his knights for his ability to come and go as he pleased. That particular conversation usually ended with Sonic bolting from the castle and Lancelot being sent to retrieve him. It wasn't so bad though, at least he got some alone time with the other hedgehog that way. Speaking of…

"You'd like me to what?" Sonic stared blankly at Lancelot, still trying to process what he'd just been asked.

Lancelot averted his face. "I'd… like you to accompany me when I go to visit my mother tomorrow. If you find it agreeable."

Slowly a smile spread across Sonic's muzzle. "Oh!" He ignored Caliburn's mild complaints about brushing off his duties. "I'd love to. It's been a while since I saw her."

"Thank you for indulging me sire. I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you." Lancelot nodded.

"Will you be bringing Galahad with you too?" Sonic tilted his head. He honestly really liked the younger hedgehog, even if him and Lancelot's familial ties still threw Sonic off. Though it warmed his heart to see the two of them together and see how much they clearly cared for each other.

"I planned to yes. He's told me recently he'd like to see her again soon." Lancelot stiffened. "That is… alright yes?"

"More than alright Lance." Sonic's grin widened. "He's a good kid."

Lancelot subtly puffed his chest out in pride, and Sonic barely held back a laugh. It was certainly something to see Lancelot play the part of proud father, but he liked to see it. "He will make a fine knight once he is old enough."

"You know I would be happy to knight him now. He's shown he's able to handle himself." Sonic put a hand on Lancelot's arm.

Lancelot shook his head. "He would not appreciate the shortcut. He wishes to earn his knighthood as I did before him."

"Alright." Sonic held up his hands. "In that case I look forward to doing it properly once he's ready."

"Thank you sire. I have no doubt he would be delighted to hear that." Lancelot seemed to relax a little after Sonic pulled his hand away.

"Well." Sonic clapped his hands together. "Until tomorrow then my knight?"

"Until then my king." Lancelot bowed before hurrying away. Sonic frowned at his retreating back. Well that could have gone better, but it also could have gone worse. He sighed and let a smile slip back onto his face. Tomorrow should be good at least. He decidedly ignored the metaphorical hole the love letter was burning in his quills.

"Ah Sir Sonic. How lovely it is to see you again." Nimue went for a hug, one which Sonic returned with only mild hesitation. It was hard to mentally separate her from Amy sometimes.

"Good to see you too." Sonic chuckled as the two broke apart.

"Mother." Lancelot hissed. "He is the king, you cannot just embrace him like that."

Her sharp gaze turned to her son. "Well, if it isn't my family. Finally deemed me worthy of your presence?" Nimue shot Lancelot and Galahad a sly smile. Sonic hid his amusement behind his hand.

Lancelot flushed, far easier to tell right now since the knight had his visor up. "I've been busy mother. You know this." Galahad simply looked between the two, a nervous frown on his face.

"I jest Lancelot." Nimue laughed. "Come and greet me properly as the king has already done." Lancelot somewhat reluctantly moved forward and gave his mother a hug. Sonic couldn't help the brief laugh that escaped him. Galahad joining him a moment after. "Don't think you will escape the same fate. Come here Galahad." She held her arms out once she released a now very flustered Lancelot, who's visor was now flipped down. Weird.

Unlike his father Galahad happily fell into the embrace of his grandma. By the time they let go of each other Lancelot had flipped his visor back up. "It's good to see you." Galahad smiled.

Nimue's smile widened. "Any day I get to see you or your father is a pleasant one. Now." She looked out over the group. "Shall we head inside? I've prepared tea."

"Lead the way, oh lady of the lake." Sonic grinned and gestured for her to go ahead of him.

With a smile she began to lead them back to her home. "Lancelot? Care to walk with me?"

Said hedgehog glanced between his mother and Sonic before nodding. "Of course mother."

The two hurried ahead some and Sonic let them be. They were family after all and she saw Lancelot a lot less often than he did. "So." Galahad spoke up. It made Sonic happy to know the younger hedgehog wasn't worried about talking to him casually. "When are you and my father going to…" He gestured widely. "You know…"

Sonic rose a brow. He did not know actually. "I'm not sure what you're talking about kid."

"Oh. Really?" Galahad looked confused. "Father told me he'd finally managed to say something to you. I thought… well I don't mean to assume of course…" Suddenly the younger hedgehog was rather nervous.

As the two walked, and Galahad endured a mild breakdown of some sort, Sonic thought and slowly put pieces together. The letter stuffed in his quills felt heavy with the weight of his own realization. That's why the handwriting had seemed so familiar. He stopped in his tracks and carefully pulled the letter out. "Oh." Was all he could manage as he looked between the letter and its previously unknown author.

"Are you alright?" Galahad had stopped too.

"I'm good yeah." Sonic slowly nodded. "I just put some things together is all." He pat Galahad on the head, careful to avoid his helmet. "I think I need to go have a chat with Lancelot. Keep your grandma company for me ok?"

"Yes sir!" Galahad nodded, smiling.

"Yo Lance!" Sonic called ahead, letter still gripped in one hand. The black hedgehog turned around, confused before an odd look fell over his face. That was probably due to Sonic waving the letter. "Can we have a quick chat?"

With a quick excuse to his mother he rushed to Sonic's side. Galahad was next to his grandma in the next moment. Nimue gave them a knowing smile and waved them off. "What did you wish to discuss sire?" Lancelot had flipped down his visor again, but Sonic could tell the other wasn't looking at him.

"I think you know." Sonic let a relaxed smile settle onto his face. The last thing he wanted Lancelot to believe was that he was in trouble. Unfortunately the other hedgehog remained quiet. That was fine, he could talk for a bit. "I didn't know who this was from when I first got it. Not until just now actually, when me and Galahad were talking."

"He told you?" Lancelot seemed upset, fists clenching at his sides.

Sonic held up a hand and cut off whatever that was. Lancelot turned away. "He only implied. Which helped me figure it out." He carefully unfolded the letter between them. "You should have signed it you know."

"I'm afraid my cowardice got the best of me after finishing it." Lancelot looked away. "To pour my heart out for the king and then ascribe that to myself felt far too daunting at the time."

"But you still gave it to me. Gave me a headache trying to figure out who wrote it." Sonic teased, tucking the letter away. It felt far more precious now that he knew who'd written it.

"I apologize for any agony I caused you sire." Lancelot dipped his head low.

Sonic sighed before gently pushing the other hedgehog's head back up to look at him. With his other hand he flipped up the visor. "You're fine Lance. Honest." He smiled, something softer and more genuine than he typically plastered on his face. "I'm just glad to know my flirting hasn't been completely lost on you."

Lancelot hesitantly linked their hands together. "And this is… alright? I'm allowed to show my loyalty to you in more ways than one?"

Sonic pulled the hedgehog into a tight hug. He was glad he'd decided to leave Caliburn behind today. No doubt he'd ruin the moment. "What I am doesn't matter. There's no way I'm going to let what other people think dictate how I live my life."

As the two broke apart Sonic was pleased to see a small smile on Lancelot's face. "Then allow me make myself clear. I love you si- Sonic."

Sonic squeezed Lancelot's hand. "I love you too Lancelot. Now as much as I'd like to spend some more alone time together we shouldn't keep your mom waiting."

"A wise course of action." Lancelot's face was grave. Though his attention was drawn elsewhere for a moment and he let go of Sonic's hand to grab something on the side of the road. Before Sonic could properly register it Lancelot was tucking something behind Sonic's ear. "It… matches your eyes."

Sonic grinned as he reached up and felt the flower Lancelot had tucked behind his ear. He grabbed his hand again and started walking. Maybe this whole king business wouldn't be so bad with Lancelot at his side.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic fandom #ao3 link #lansoni #sthrarepair24 #satbk sir lancelot #fanfiction

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midnightshard06 · 2 days

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STH Rarepair Week Day 1: First Kiss / First Encounter

You can check it out on ao3 here if you prefer.

Summary: Knuckles finally learns the odd truth behind Sonic's weird behaviors after all these years. He didn't expect it to be a whole other person, and neither of them expected they'd fall for each other. They've made it work though, even if it can be rough sometimes.

Pairing: Knuckles/Fleetway Super Sonic

Warnings: A tiiiiiny smidge of violence in one part? Not really much but warning just in case.

Word Count: ~2800 words

AN: Just so people who are familiar with my stuff are aware, this is unrelated to my Chaos Uncontrolled AU. It's actually related to a fic I never finished, got 8k words deep in it too, but I felt the urge to do something for it.

Knuckles had known Sonic for a long time. He’d been dragged into the hedgehog’s small circle of friends, consisting of just Tails at the time so he thought, pretty much immediately in the wake of everything that happened on Angel Island. Part of him thought that Sonic wouldn’t forgive him for being tricked by Eggman, but that hadn’t been the case. Once the Death Egg had been dealt with Sonic and Tails had come back to make sure he was ok, and also to ask if it would be ok if they visited every once in a while. It didn’t take long for him to say yes, not that he made it look like he was desperate for company or anything. Sonic and Tails were just… decent company is all. Plus he still felt bad for going against them.

As time passed the duo would visit him when they could, even drag him into adventures from time to time. Those adventures got more frequent the longer they knew each other. It was on those adventures that he started to realize there was something Sonic wasn’t telling him about.

It started off easy enough to ignore, especially when he was being distracted by whatever was going on. Though the more time he spent around Sonic the harder it was to ignore. The hedgehog would seemingly… talk to himself sometimes. Even odder was that when he did it with Tails nearby the fox didn’t seem to even care. Knuckles really wanted to ask what that was all about but any time he tried Sonic found some way to change the topic. Frankly it was getting frustrating.

It would be some time, and many failed attempts, before he managed to figure out what was going on. For all his attempted plans though, he would end up finding out completely by accident. Sonic and Tails were on Angel Island for the day, making sure Knuckles wasn't lonely even if he assured them he was fine. Sonic had gone off to run around for a bit and Tails had been tinkering with something nearby as Knuckles watched the Master Emerald.

"I've been trying to work on some stuff that would help keep the Master Emerald safe while you were away." Tails paused in his work to glance over at Knuckles. "If you'd actually consider using it anyway…" The fox looked slightly nervous.

Knuckles hummed. It would be nice to have some more peace of mind when he couldn't watch it. "Would it be… easy to use?" He asked. Technology for the most part eluded him. Most of the time when Tails tried to explain something he was working on he couldn't keep up at all.

"Yeah!" Tails perked up. "I made it my top priority to make it easy to use. I've even had Sonic and Fleet test it out to make sure."

Knuckles blinked. "Fleet?" His brow furrowed in confusion. That wasn't a name he'd ever heard before.

Instead of possibly just explaining that it was some new friend they'd met, Tails froze. "Oh uh… I must have misspoke. Heh heh." He looked away and rubbed the back of his head.

Now this was odd behavior. Plus Tails was an awful liar. "What did you mean to say then?" Knuckles tilted his head. He'd give the fox the benefit of the doubt for now.

"I… uh…" Tails' eyes darted around. "Froggy..?" He winced.

Knuckles huffed. "Nice try. Wanna give me the truth?" He crossed his arms.

Tails' ears drooped. "I do…"

"But?" Knuckles pressed. This honestly didn't seem like too much of a deal to him. Why was Tails so hesitant to tell him?

"I'm not sure I should…" Tails sighed.

Before Knuckles could say anything else another voice cut it. "Don't worry about it kid. I can explain myself." There was suddenly a golden hedgehog there. One that looked remarkably like Sonic in his super form. As he walked over he ruffled the fur on Tails' head, an action that looked almost automatic. "Good to properly meet you Knux. I was wondering when this was gonna slip." Despite the hedgehog's casual demeanor Knuckles could tell he was nervous.

"... you're Fleet then?" Knuckles cautiously approached. It was hard to ignore the sheer amount of chaos energy he could feel coming off the hedgehog.

"The one and only." Fleet eyed him, shuffling his feet. "I assume you have questions."

"Several." Knuckles nodded. "First, who are you and why have I never seen you before?"

Fleet seemed to hesitate before sighing. "Well… if we're just gonna rip the bandaid off here. I'm a being made up of chaos energy who's been with Sonic his whole life. Like I came into existence when he was born. Something to do with the emeralds taking a shine to him." He waved a hand. "We're not too sure." He crossed his arms. "Reason you've never seen me before is cause typically only Sonic can, but I can 'pilot' for a bit I guess. That let's me interact with the world and be seen." He shrugged.

"So you're just… sentient chaos energy?" Knuckles didn't quite relax at the explanation, but at least Fleet seemed to be telling the truth. It would be a rather unbelievable lie if it was one. Plus it would explain the chaos energy he could feel.

"I guess?" Fleet hummed. "Kinda a simple way to put it though." He mumbled.

This had certainly not been what Knuckles had guessed was going on, but it did put some things into perspective for him. Especially Sonic seemingly talking to himself. He glanced at Tails. "How long have you known about him?" He gestured to Fleet.

Tails looked away. "Uuuuh since before we met you. I accidentally met him at the end of the first adventure me and Sonic had."

"I'd gotten all the emeralds." Fleet hoped in. "Turns out if I'm not careful that much chaos energy can cause me to go a bit… wild." He looked at the floor. "Didn't know that at the time though. Tails ended up seeing me before me and Sonic could figure it out." He cracked a small smile and looked over at Tails. "It worked out though." The fox smiled back. Knuckles opened his mouth to ask something else but Fleet rose a hand. "Sonic didn't want to say anything because people haven't exactly taken kindly to my existence in the past." He frowned deeply.

"If it makes you feel better." Tails jumped in. "Only me and Shadow know, and Shadow only knows because he could tell that Fleet was there. Sort of."

Knuckles hummed as he watched Fleet. It was clear the hedgehog was still nervous. “Alright. Fine.” He sighed and held out his hands. “At least I know now.”

Fleet blinked. Knuckles crossed his arms. “That’s it?” Fleet looked dumbfounded.

“Were you expecting something else?” Knuckles tilted his head.

“Well… I mean…” Fleet seemed to be struggling to get his words straight. “It was just a whole thing with Shadow and… I don’t know, it's almost always been a big deal…” Suddenly his head whipped to the right to glare at empty space. “Stop laughing! You’d be acting the same way in my position!” Based on his eyes narrowing further Knuckles was willing to bet the laughing had only gotten harder. Fleet turned back to Knuckles, his arms now crossed and ears flat against his head.

“Well so long as you don’t pose a threat to the Master Emerald I’m fine to trust you for now.” Knuckles nodded, and Fleet perked up a little bit.

“I see.” Fleet cleared his throat. “Well uh. Good I guess. Yeah…” He tapped his claws together nervously. “Good… talk.” With that he was gone and Sonic was there on the ground, still laughing.

Fleet collapsed wordlessly against Knuckles. The echidna didn’t even flinch. “What happened?” Knuckles eventually asked once Fleet had settled himself. Fleet didn’t really have the emotional energy to even try and describe the day he’d just had. All he knew is he wanted to calm down and hang out with his partner. Not that he even knew how he’d managed that. Ever since he’d revealed himself to Knuckles the two had gotten closer, and things had just… evolved from there. It helped that him and Sonic were able to be separate finally. That had been a pain while they’d tested different things. He’d had far too many close calls than he was comfortable with… both for himself and others.

Knuckles hummed and put an arm around Fleet. It was nice, not needing to articulate his feelings just yet, but still getting the comfort he’d been seeking out. The two stayed there for a while, Fleet wasn’t really trying to keep track of the time. Which was still odd to him. Before sitting still this long would have been torture, but now he was content to just stay at Knuckles’ side.

“Something with the emeralds?” Knuckles spoke up again, keeping his gaze aimed forward.

With a sigh Fleet extracted himself from the comfortable position and balanced his head on his hands. “Yeah.” He pinned his ears down. It was still fresh and he didn’t really want to talk about it, but keeping it to himself might only make things worse. “Tails was messing with one, I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was doing. Then out of nowhere… boom!” He waved a hand aggressively. “I couldn’t think straight. Made a mess of Tails’ lab and… and…” He sucked in a sharp breath. “And hurt people.”

There was a moment of silence and then a hand on his shoulder, he tried to shy away from the touch but it was firm. “I get why you came here then.” Knuckles didn’t look sympathetic, but Fleet much preferred that. He didn’t want to be pitied. “You know that if something goes wrong here, I could probably use the Master Emerald to help.”

“S’part of it I guess.” Fleet admitted. Of course that was a pretty natural conclusion to make. “I think just being around you helps too.” He added, much quieter. Knuckles just slowly pulled him closer, giving him plenty of time to pull away if he wanted. Fleet didn’t fight him. Hopefully some quiet time spent here would help clear his mind.

“Where is he!?” Knuckles shouted as he approached an injured looking Sonic.

The blue hedgehog grimaced as he pushed himself to his feet. “He’s up ahead. Shadow is keeping him busy for now.” He went to rub the back of his head but winced. “Not sure how long he’ll last though… Fleet was exposed to a lot of chaos energy…”

Knuckles grit his teeth. As much as he wanted to rush in there right now and help Fleet he needed more information. “What happened?”

“Was fighting Eggman, I used the emeralds. Fleet was there too but I thought it would be fine. He was trying to stay out of the fight.” There was clear regret on Sonic’s face. “Somehow he managed to pick up on it. He’s been extra sensitive to it lately.” He shook his head. “We have no idea why.”

Well that wasn’t a lot to work with, but Knuckles would have to make due. “I’ll see what I can do.” He grunted, just seeing the grateful look that Sonic gave him as he ran off. True to Sonic’s word Fleet was just ahead. The golden hedgehog had a hand gripped around Shadow’s throat and a crazed look in his eyes. Around them were the ruins of what must have been one of Eggman’s bases. Knuckles would be willing to bet destroying the structure had at least distracted Fleet long enough for him to get here. Thankfully he'd already been off of Angel Island when he’d been contacted. “Hey!” He shouted and one of Fleet’s ears swung towards him. “Put him down.” Knuckles growled.

Fleet turned to look at him. An excited smile crept across his face, one that was still disturbing. “Knuckles.” He sounded genuinely happy to see him, but yet he still held Shadow aloft. “So nice to see you here.” He closed his eyes briefly as he exposed his teeth with his smile.

It was definitely disturbing to see such pleasant expressions aimed at him while Fleet still gripped tightly at Shadow’s throat. Said black hedgehog was still struggling. “Put. Him. Down.” Knuckles narrowed his eyes, keeping his tone firm.

Fleet’s pleasant expression faded as he frowned, ears drooping. “Awe, but I was having fun. A few more minutes can’t hurt right?”

“Now, Fleet.” Knuckles took a step forward. He knew he didn’t stand much of a chance in a fight, but he also knew he was one of the people least likely to be attacked. Of course that list consisted of Sonic and Tails too, but he tried to ignore how injured Sonic had looked when he saw him.

The golden hedgehog pouted but did drop Shadow. The other hedgehog fell to the ground gasping for air. Knuckles cautiously approached as Fleet floated down to the ground. Fleet’s grin still looked feral, but at least he didn’t seem inclined to attack Knuckles. For now. Though of course Knuckles didn’t come unprepared. As much as it would be nice if his presence alone could calm Fleet down he knew that wouldn’t work. Tails had sounded rather frantic in his distress call after all.

Before Fleet could move away Knuckles threw his arms around him. Something in between a hug and a grapple. Thankfully Fleet went rigid as he no doubt tried to figure out what was going on. In those precious few moments Knuckles called upon the power of the Master Emerald to neutralize the excess chaos energy in Fleet’s body. He could feel when it started to work as the golden hedgehog collapsed more and more heavily against him. If there was another way Knuckles would much prefer to use it, Fleet always looked so tired and out of it after. Though he also knew that Fleet would much prefer that to hurting anyone else.

Finally Fleet slumped against Knuckles completely, his breathing evening out as he fell asleep. Knuckles mentally sighed in relief, though he did wish he was able to get here sooner. A glance over at where Shadow had been revealed the hedgehog had left at some point, probably to tend to whatever injuries he had. No doubt Sonic would check up on his rival later. Speaking of the blue hedgehog, Knuckles watched him carefully approach. He was limping slightly, but was doing his best to hide it. What he didn’t hide was the relief on his face when he spotted Fleet in Knuckles’ arms.

“I assume everything’s good now?” Sonic was still looking at Fleet, some sort of expression Knuckles couldn’t place on his face now.

“For now. You should go rest. I’ll take care of him.” Knuckles adjusted Fleet so he was holding him more comfortably.

Sonic opened his mouth to say something but closed it. Perhaps thinking better of whatever he was about to say. "I'll leave him to you." He shuffled his feet and winced. "Just let me know how he's doing once he wakes up ok?" Knuckles simply nodded before going off to collect the Master Emerald from where he'd left it.

Fleet woke with a start, but didn’t try to move. He was utterly exhausted, a feeling he knew well. Though he wished it wasn’t so familiar. Just as he suspected he spotted the Master Emerald after a moment of visually searching for it, so that also meant…”Good to see you up.” Knuckles was sitting down next to him, close but not touching. “How are you feeling?”

“About how you’d expect…” Fleet curled in on himself, not quite making a proper ball. “I feel like I could sleep for a whole year…”

“I’m sorry.” Knuckles, as he always did after something like this happened, sounded genuinely apologetic.

“I know.” Fleet reached his hand out blindly, Knuckles thankfully took it. “And I keep telling you it’s ok.”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t feel bad about it.” Knuckles huffed. “Even with your permission.”

Fleet felt like he could continue this conversation, but nothing new would be said. They’d had this same back and forth so many times. Honestly Fleet hated to think about how common of a conversation this was becoming. He hated that it was brought on because of his inability to control himself around chaos energy. "Fine." Was all Fleet could manage. He was tired anyway. The two stayed in silence for a while. It was comfortable, like it usually was between them. "Thank you." Fleet's voice was soft even to his own ears.

Knuckles pulled Fleet closer. "I just wish I could stop it from happening."

"You do your best." Fleet squeezed his hand.

There was more silence and Fleet figured it would be safe to slip back into sleep now. What he wasn't expecting though was for Knuckles to press his muzzle to Fleet's head, careful to avoid pricking himself. Fleet's exhaustion riddled mind barely registered it as a kiss. A sort of tentative one, but one all the same. As he drifted off the sleep he couldn't help but realize that was the first time that had ever happened.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic au #sonic fandom #ao3 link #fleetway super sonic #knuckles the echidna #sthrarepair24 #Iiiii have 0 idea what tag to even use for this ship lol #uuuh this one sounds fun but if there's an official one feel free to inform me lol #superknux #fanfiction

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